Google Is Really, Really Thirsty
Google Is Really, Really Thirsty
Google said it consumed 5.6 billion gallons of water in 2022—its push into AI is likely to make that amount skyrocket.
Highlighting that in the article researchers found that the average chat with ChatGPT is the equivalent of dumping one bottle of water on the floor.
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The article doesn't address it, maybe someone here can.. what does "consumed" mean? Where does the water go after it's used to cool? Surely it's reusable, right?
From here:
Google financed the development of a "sidestream facility" about five miles away from its data center. The system intercepts water from the Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority’s treatment plant that would otherwise be discharged into the Chattahoochee River — which holds status as a National Water Trail. That water is then sent to Google’s facility for use in the cooling process. Any water that isn’t evaporated is treated using effluent equipment at Google’s site, and then returned to the river.
The article notes that some of that water is ground water that's drinkable, too. But there's no proportion of drinkable to waste water provided.
That’s actually a fantastic use of resources. Their chillers probably work much for efficiently. It’s similar to traditional power plants.
No, it isn't. The key conceit is they are removing water from the river and evaporating it.
The water isn't 'lost' it is still part of the hydrosphere, but it is made non-local. That water goes into the air and will go on to be rain in some place far away from the community where it was sourced. This will absolutely contrubute to local droughts and water insecurity.
To add to what the other person said, I went looking and couldn’t find any solid answers. Part of it might be that Google considers their water use details as proprietary information they’re not keen on sharing, and there’s so many sites in so many different jurisdictions that I’d be surprised if there was an overarching solution.
I thought this article went into it decently: https://time.com/5814276/google-data-centers-water/
We have this amazing process for saving water. Shame on other company for not using a similar method. By the way we aren’t sharing how we do it and if you happen to do a similar method and release those details we will likely cry corporate espionage.
They're saving water the same way VW lowered their emissions (lying about it).